Secrets from a Recruiter: 4 Secrets to Nailing Your Phone Interview

News flash: from the recruiter perspective, phone interviews can be boring; especially when I’m recruiting for my software company and someone is super technical, because I’m just not. Or if someone speaks in monotone. Or if someone sounds like they are annoyed with having to answer my questions and are just waiting for me to pass them along to the hiring manager because they believe they are too good to talk to the recruiter.

So, how do you avoid my bias against boredom? Don’t bore me. Be personable. Have excitement in your voice. Do your homework on the company, the job, and my favorite topic, ME! If we start our conversation chit chatting about your last trip to Austin, it could help you stand out in my mind so I don’t blend you with the thousands of phone interviews I’ve conducted over the years. Act interested, and my interest in you will grow. The same rule goes for any other interview that you attend. Here are some more tips to make you stand out during your phone interview:

1. Know your audience.

As a recruiter for a software company, I tell my candidates, “I’m not technical, but I play someone technical on TV” as a way of telling them that getting into the bits and bytes with me is a waste of time. Some people ignore me and go into such lengthy technical talks that I want to stop paying attention altogether and check the online sales. Make your answers audience appropriate. Ask your interviewer if he or she wants more detail. If not, stick to the highlight reel.

2. Watch your voice.

This one can be tough. Tape yourself reading a children’s book and see how you sound. Do you have a voice that doesn’t show a lot of inflection? Or does your voice change as the story goes on? This is a good indicator of how you’re going to sound on the phone. Make sure your voice shows enthusiasm, and inflects appropriately. Try to avoid monotone, and add some pep to your voice so that the listener stays engaged.

Ask your interviewer if he or she wants more detail. If not, stick to the highlight reel.

3. Have some canned stories.

Whenever interviewing, you should have some good success stories in your back pocket that you’ve practiced telling. These stories can answer a number of different questions, and because you’ve practiced, you will tell them well and not leave out important details.

4. Watch “I” and the “we”.

Here’s a total interview trick point. Skilled interviewers are listening to how often the person says, “I did this” and “I did that,” especially when talking about a team project. On the other hand, we are also looking for someone who says, “we did this” and “we did that” because that doesn’t show ownership and leadership. How do you get past this sticky trap? Make sure you make your role on the team clear, take credit for your contributions, and give credit to others for their contributions. If you say something like, “I had the idea to move up the product launch two weeks and then we divided up all of the different milestones to each member of the team so that we could come together and get our product out quicker. My role was to….” it looks like you’re a team player who can work with others. Highlight your contributions, but give others credit as well. Doing so will actually make you look like a stronger candidate. If you were not a leader, but a strong individual contributor to a team, that’s ok. Every team needs workers—just be able to show how your contribution led to the final product.